The instant invention relates generally to transporters for crop harvesting implements, and more particularly to an apparatus for raising the ramps on such a transporter.
Generally, harvesting equipment, particularly hay harvesting equipment, has been designed and manufactured with a transverse width that would permit transport thereof over the highway and through farm gates. Although the hay harvesting machines commonly referred to as pivot tongue windrowers, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,946, granted in 1978 to Philip J. Ehrhart, were generally wider in a transverse direction than previous pull-type hay harvesting machines, the centrally mounted pivoted drawbar permitted towing of the harvester directly behind the tractor in a centrally located position and, therefore, transport of the harvester in a normal operational orientation was possible.
Increasing transverse widths of such harvesting machines, however, prevents harvesters from being towed over the highway and through restrictive openings behind the tractor in a normal orientation, necessitating the provision of alternative means of transport. Two methods of transporting such implements in a transverse orientation are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,962,853 and 3,721,461. Such apparatus requires a movement of wheels, hitches, jacks, etc. to equip the harvester for movement in a transverse direction, including the disconnection and reconnection of appropriate hitches to the tractor.
The development of the pivot tongue harvester with a laterally extendible drawbar, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,560, permits the harvester to be mounted on a transporter and transported in a lateral orientation by utilizing the drawbar of the harvester as the hitch connection to the tractor. Such a transporter utilizes transversely extending load ramps to permit the harvester to be elevated from the ground onto the transporter. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,996, granted to Earl E. Koch in 1986, discloses a transporter developed for carrying an implement of the type including a pivot tongue arched over the crop cutterhead of the implement and pivoted at is rear end to a location midway between the opposing side ends of the wheel-supported frame from which the Cutterhead, or header, is suspended. The transporter includes two retractable ramps oriented transverse to the normal direction of travel of the transporter. To load the implement, the ramps are lowered into contact with the ground and the implement is backed up the ramps and onto the transporter by the towing tractor. The implement contacts a linkage that acts to automatically elevate the ramps to the transport position as the implement becomes properly positioned on the transporter. The towing tractor and the draft tongue of the implement are then positioned for towing.
Another example of a transporter is U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,829, issued to Walters et al. in 1999. The transporter shown in the ""829 patent, while very similar to the Koch patent mentioned above, differs in the method by which the ramps are raised from the loading to the transport positions. In the ""829 patent, the loading ramps pivot about a fulcrum such that the ramps are moved from the loading to a transport position by the weight of the implement when it is backed up the ramps to a loaded position.
It would be desirable and beneficial to provide an apparatus for raising the ramps on an implement transporter that would not rely either on a linkage or the weight of the implement to cause the ramps to move into the transport position.
It is an object of this invention to provide an implement transporter having transverse load ramps pivotally connected to the frame of the transporter, the ramps relying upon the forces exerted by the tractor during the loading process to raise the ramps from the loading to the transport positions.
It is another object of this invention to provide pivotable load ramps to permit a compact positioning of the ramps when moved into the transport position.
It is a broad object of this invention to provide an improved implement transporter of the type described herein that is reliable and stable in design and simple in construction.
It is a feature of this invention to provide an implement transporter with transverse ramps that does not rely either upon a complex and expensive linkage or the weight of the implement to raise the ramps from the loading to the transport positions.
It is another feature of the instant invention to provide an implement transporter that employs, during the loading process, a ramp that supports the implement weight from the ground to a platform, then engages a cross bar on the ramp, which is above the pivot point of the ramp to the transporter frame, transferring the loading force of the tractor through the wheels of the implement and to the cross bar, resulting in the movement of the ramps to the transport position.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a lateral transporter for carrying a harvesting machine in a transverse orientation that is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, low in maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.
These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a transporter for use in transporting a harvesting machine having a laterally movable tongue, wherein the transporter has transversely extending loading ramps pivotally connected to the main frame of the transporter to permit the harvester to be elevated from the ground onto the transporter. The force of the loading tractor, acting through the wheels of the implement, causes each ramp to move to the transport position. As the wheels of the implement reach a platform, separate from the ramp, and engage a cross bar on each ramp, they exert a generally horizontal force on the cross bar that causes the ramp to pivot upwardly to the transport position.